Android, BlackBerry beat Apple in UK

Xhead = Android, BlackBerry beat Apple in UK

Android-based smartphones have the lion's share of the UK market, and Apple comes third behind BlackBerry, according to figures from research firm Kantar Worldpanel, writes V3.co.uk.

In a report just published, the company found that in the 12 weeks up to August this year, Google's Android platform represented 47.1% of the smartphone market in the UK, with RIM's BlackBerry devices accounting for 21.5% and Apple's iPhone models close behind on 20.8%.

However, it should be noted that while Apple and RIM handsets are manufactured by a single vendor, Android-based handsets are made by a number of different companies.

Xhead = Fake Web certificates balloon

The number of fraudulent security certificates issued by a hacked Dutch firm has ballooned from the 247 reported last week to 531, and the main purpose of the attack appears to have been to spy on Iranian dissidents, notes Cnet.

The list of domains for which fraudulent Secure Sockets Layer certificates were issued by DigiNotar, a root certificate authority, now includes sites such as the CIA, MI6, Facebook, Microsoft, Skype, Twitter, and WordPress, among others, according to a list released this weekend by the Dutch Ministry of Justice.

In the wake of the new revelations, the Dutch government has reportedly expressed a lack of confidence in the Netherlands-based company and taken control of it.

Xhead = US schools dump textbooks for iPads

For incoming freshmen at western Connecticut's suburban Brookfield High School, hefting a backpack weighed down with textbooks is about to give way to tapping out notes and flipping electronic pages on a glossy iPad tablet computer, says the Associated Press.

A few hours away, every student at Burlington High School near Boston will also start the year with new school-issued iPads, each loaded with electronic textbooks and other online resources in place of traditional bulky texts.

While iPads have rocketed to popularity on many college campuses since Apple introduced the device in spring 2010, many US public secondary schools this fall will move away from textbooks in favour of the lightweight tablet computers.

Xhead = Infrared makes tanks invisible

Tanks could soon get night time invisibility thanks to a cloaking device that masks their infrared signature, reports the BBC.

Developed by BAE Systems, the Adaptiv technology allows vehicles to mimic the temperature of their surroundings.

It can also make a tank look like other objects, such as a cow or car, when seen through heat-sensitive scopes. Researchers are looking at ways to make it work with other wavelengths of light to confer true invisibility.